Mishaps, Injuries, and Merry Christmas

Well, the Merry Christmas is first because once again I don't put the pictures in order. We put our Christmas tree up and this is my two cuties in front of it. They love each other and already love being with each other and hate being with each other sometimes.

Here is our Christmas tree. It may not be the prettiest or the funnest or the best theme, but it is ours and we love it.

These next pictures I get to brag about because they are what we call special ornaments. We do a tradition my family has always done and you choose an ornament for that year of something significant that happened in the family or that you do together as a family (i.e. family vacation) Anyways, I have been a little slow on making a couple of them. I get to brag about them because I did very little on them. My wonderful mom did most of the work, hence they are so dang cute. They would have been very plain and boring had I done them by myself. The bears and heart if you couldn't tell are for Colby and I's first year. Obviously the big event that year was us getting married.

Then we have Jackson and Berklee. The other ones are mine and Colby's graduations, a trip around southeastern utah where we went to the 4 corners and a disneyland trip. We bought ornaments for those ones. I love my mom and am so glad she made these ornaments so much better than I would have. She is so crafty and good at this. Thanks Mom~!

This would be the mishap I was talking about. It actually happened in October. Colby had gotten bitten by something so I was getting some hydrocortisone cream. It wasn't coming out so I squeezed a little bit. As you can see more than a little bit came out. Needless to say, it was not my day. After I got cleaned up from that I was feeding Berklee some carrots when I decided to somehow throw them (okay I didn't throw them but I may as well have) all over myself and the floor. Not really sure how it happened but things happen. Anyways, don't mind my nastiness it was just one of those days.

Last of all, injuries. Colby decided to go play basketball with some old friends over the weekend we were in Cedar City for football. He did not have his basketball shoes so I asked him if he really should go because he tends to have bad ankles. Anyways, I must have jinxed him. He had been gone to basketball for about 20 mins when I got a call to go pick him up. He had sprained his ankle. By the time I got there, the ankle was so swollen and mis-shaped that I could have sworn it was broken. Anyways, these are just a couple pictures of that. This picture shows some bruising which was rather small in this picture. This side of his ankle was all bruised then the top of his foot and toes became bruised and finally the other side fo the ankle bruised. Weird but true.

This picture is to try and show how swollen the ankle got. However, this was about 4 days after the fact and he had been off of it and iced it before this picture. I have to say he has been a good sport about it. It has been almost a month and it is still swollen. Jackson of course has bumped it, jumped on it, and hurt it in many ways and Colby tries to just remind him to be careful of the hurt foot and still goes and wrestles and tackles with Jackson. I hope it gets better soon.

HELP!!!

Ok, so I posted this on facebook but thought I might get some other people to respond if I put it on my blog. I am terrible at making cookies. They usually turn out taste wise good but they are flat or hard or on and on. So if you have any really good cookie recipes or fail-safe recipes or maybe some great tips I would love to hear them. I randomly get in the mood for good cookies and then I follow a random recipe in one of my recipe books and it just doens't quite hit the spot. Oh yeah and if you have any great ideas for traveling snacks and food I would love to hear that also.

Thanks a bunch please comment.

Halloween and past!!!

Ok, so this was supposed to load the pics the opposite way around but I am not about to go in and change that. So this is our little family all dressed in our San Juan Broncos garb for Colby's brother's game. The kids and I have been watching the games with Colby's family and he has been in the booth with his brother broadcasting the games live on the internet. Anyways, he enjoys it and Jackson loves yelling at the games. Really CUTE! Berklee actually watches too if she isn't sleeping or eating. This is from Jackson's birthday. He actually had a party with friends this year and not just family. We didn't do anything too big. They got to play around and then have cupcakes and ice cream. As you can see that was plenty for him. The kids loved the balloons, the noisemakers in the party bags, and the party hats. Ham it up Jack!!!

Now for the Halloween pics. I kept asking Jackson different things of what he wanted to be for Halloween. Apparently he was very stuck on being a pirate, then I asked him what Berklee should be and he insisted she be a pirate with him. I think I asked him a hundred different things to be and it never changed. So sorry Berklee you got to be a pirate of course she doesn't look to upset about that here.

In fact, she seemed to like it just fine. Jackson may get to pick her costume next year too. But I promise he won't always get to choose her costume. I really think she turned out soooo adorable. And as you can tell, Jackson loved it. Too cute!

He also had a hat. I don't know why we didn't take pics with the hat on. He was so excited and would keep saying "I'm egcited mom". We had our impromptu party so he dressed up for that this is actually the night before Halloween when we dressed up for a party at the little family center here and the school's carnival. He got to play around, do a cake walk, make a little picture frame magnet for a picture of him in his costume, and get mommy and Berklee locked in jail for 5 mins. (Colby was in big trouble) j/k.

Halloween day was crazy because we headed up to Blanding after the school's carnival in MV and Saturday went to the Broncos game. They ended up winning so that was good. Then we hurried and got the kids dressed up and took them around to family's houses up in Blanding. We hurried and packed our stuff up and rushed back down to MV. We had been told our housing area is the place so the idea of actually getting more than 10 trick or treaters intrigued us. Plus, Jackson just insisted he go trick or treating to his friend's houses. He loved it. He was so happy about the candy. It's so fun to watch him grow up in so many ways. I do wish every now and then he would just slow down though. Well, Jackson also loved handing out the candy. He would run to the door open it up and start putting one piece in everyone's bag. Guess what? We had more than 10 trick or treaters in fact we bought more candy than we ever have and ran out. I had to break out some of our own candy stores. Colby was about to bring out old Christmas candy but I vetoed that. Thankfully the treaters stopped with about 2 pieces of our stores of candy left. Well thank you for cleaning us out so I won't eat it. I had to put this pic of Berk because she's playing with Jackson's hook. Every chance she would get she was trying to play with his sword or hook so the costumes were a hit for both kids.

I put this one in because it shows her full costume. She is such a big girl. She's growing up way too fast. She's standing up to things, climbing over things, and letting go of things to stand up. She either thinks she needs to keep up with her brother or be able to get away from him I'm not sure which. Sometimes she just follows him around and wants to play with whatever he is playing with and other times she is happy as can be doing her own things. I guess we'll see as she gets older. I really think and hope they'll both like time together but also want time alone.

Brother and sister together. So most of the time she is happy as can be with her. Of course, that only lasts until he wants to wrestle and tackle her. He's actually really careful about it and doesn't usually hurt her but she doesn't like being restrained when he's wrestling her. Watch out though Jackson, because I have a feeling she'll be a fighter. One day you might be sorry you try to wrestle her. Although, the fact that he just keeps growing may not let Berklee get that chance. he is still around 38 lbs but has grown 4 1/2 in since a month after Berklee was born. He is now 40 1/2 in. Berklee is growing quick too though so I guess the race is on.

Sorry so long. I finally posted pics and decided to share some news. Leave a comment if you read this I love to hear what you have to say. Oh yeah, one more thing the family got flu vaccine shots today. I actually got mine last week. The other three got them today and got both of the flu vaccines. My poor babies. Including my husband in that statement. I don't know if you guys have had them but mine made my arm ache for two days. I hope my little chile beans don't hurt that much.

Kid Update

Well, I will get pics on as soon as I take them but the two kids are going to be pirates. They both got in their costumes yesterday for a spur of the moment idea of mine to have all the other neighbor kids come over and their parents. I had about a half hour to get ready and get the kids ready. We had a lot of fun. The kids made egg carton spiders, spiderwebs, and decorated cupcakes. We also went ahead and did dinner for everyone. Tomato alfredo spaghetti. Yummy!
Berk cut her two bottom teeth. She snorts when she wants something you have and isn't getting it. She also scrunches up her whole face into a smile when daddy gets home from work. She tries lettiong go of things she is standing up to occasionally. Jack is loving preschool. He recognizes quite a few of his letters and some numbers. He reads to Colby and I at night. He has this Cars book memorized and reads it to us everynight. He also loves his daddy time. He and Colby usually wrestle or run around the house after dinner and the other night Colby wasn't home and around that same time as usual Jack started going nuts. You could almost see a look in his eye like if he didn't get some energy out he was going to start using Berk as a wrestler. Needless to say, mommy and Jack wrestled and played. He is one tough kid. Seriously another year or two and he really could beat me I wouldn't have to pretend. He has started liking playing board games. He also remembers everything you tell him you'll do and repeats everything he hears. The other day he said "Holy Fetch" Colby and I don't say that so it must have been uncles he heard that from anyways, I laughed. Oh yeah the other day I finished getting ready and I had gotten in some nicer clothes than usual. He said "cute girl" I said what and he said "you're a cute girl" I thought it was pretty cute.
Things are great. I love being a sahm and wouldn't change it.

Thank You

Ok, so I really appreciate all the comments. I am up for any ideas just about anyways. The doctor said ger tonsils were a little big and red but it was fine as long as she wasn't running a fever. We've tried the teething orajel and tylenol. The other thing I thought of is that around the days she woke up we had fed her the baby food meats. The nurse I talked to said that her body may not be ready to digest that stuff yet. The other thing is that when I feed her she calms down but I don't want to be feeding her if she thinks she has to just to be comforted. I also don't want to starve her if she really is hungry. I thought about the night terrors but I have no way to know. Is there anything specific to watch for with those? And, is it normal for a kid around 7-8 mos to go through a growth spurt where they are hungry and need to eat in the middle of the night? Anyways, she slept good last night and her and Jackson have done very well during conference. Jackson was even so cute playing basketball with all of us and the Sharpe boys in between sessions. He would get down in his stance and side step and reach in and stay with his knees bent and arms out, so dang cute. They are great blessings in our lives.

Suggestions

Any suggestions or help about Berklee all of the sudden waking up in the middle of the night screaming and inconsolable please comment.

Also, suggestions on discipline that works and they learn from let me know. We do timeout but he just keeps doing some of the same things.

Update!

Well, I haven't posted for a while so thought I should. We don't have internet in Monument Valley yet so I really don't get to keep in touch with the outside world except by phone.

Berklee Updates:
She is crawling.
She pulls herself up to standing.
She wants to play with whatever toy her brother is playing with.
She sits up with no help.
She LOVES food (except the baby food meats she gags on them).
She was sleeping through the night until last week and now wakes up a lot (not really sure what's going on) any suggestions would be welcomed.
She has about 3 in. of hair.
She weighs 16 lbs.
She is 7 1/2 months old.
She is usually very pleasant.
She smiles and laughs a lot.
She loves her brother.

Jackson Updates:
He is 3 yrs old now. (Growing up way too fast)
He likes doing preschool at home most of the time.
He sings the ABC song to g without help.
He knows the sounds ABC and D make but loves making the b sound over and over.
He loves his train set from his b-day.
He also loves and whizzes through puzzles by himself.
He knows that we will live again.
He said today "I'm happy Jesus can be in my heart"
He's usually nice to his sister but when he isn't he does time out.
He doesn't understand why berklee doesn't do time out when she messes up his toys or pulls his hair.
He is so proud of berklee for sitting and crawling on her own.

There is so much more but that will do for now. I will try and get pics up from his b-day soon. BTW we are loving Monument Valley.

Colds, Posing, and Crawling

Okay, so I am finally posting some pictures. We took these yesterday at Grandpa and Grandma Sharpe's house. This is Jackson showing his peace sign and his rockin' sign at the same time. I was fairly impressed.
Jackson rockin' out with Carlos and Gio. He was headbanging too. Pretty funny.

Jackson posing for the camera. Oh yeah, if it looks like he has a runny nose he does. Sorry, he hates having it wiped constantly and both him and Berklee are suffering from colds right now.

His face is like that because as I snapped the picture he was saying "Pooose."

If you can tell, Berklee has a scrape on her nose. This is probably the first of many scrapes since she is now working on crawling. By the way, she was up on her hands and knees and took a spill onto the cement when she tried to move forward. Poor thing.

Proud brother and happy sister.

Berklee looking at a toy in the distance and deciding the best way to get it.

"Mom is this okay?" Okay, her face makes me think that is her question. It is more likely she's looking at me and thinking you're in trouble mom because I am about to start crawling. Hopefully we all make it through with only small scrapes and bruises like the one on her nose and nothing serious. By the way, if you couldn't tell I love my little babies. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up and wish they would slow down just a little.

Jackson is now 38 lbs and just keeps out growing all his clothes and will be 3 on Sept. 15. Berklee is now 6 months and weighs 15 lbs 4 oz and measures in at 27 in. She is just below the 50th percentile in weight and just above the 75th percentile in height. Surprisingly enough she has only gained 2 lbs since she was 2 months old. Oh yeah, little side note Berklee thinks she should be eating everything we eat. If someone is eating anything, she sits there and stares then if you don't give her any she starts to cry. So funny because Jackson was such a chunk and was never as preoccupied with food as Berklee is.

Jackson and Berklee Update

Okay, so both the kids have runny noses and are starting colds. Berklee hasn't ever been sick before so she is not happy about it. Anyways, add in her immunizations and she hasn't been the perfectly pleasant baby she has been but is still so dang cute. She scraped up her nose today taking a spill on the cement. She is getting super close to crawling and I have a feeling this scrape is the first of many.

Jackson today kept saying to everyone he saw "I'm excited" "I'm excited for football tonight!" Then as we were leaving football, he reminded me to buckle his legs even though he had buckled his arms. As I was buckling his legs in, I told him thank you and I was glad he reminded me because I don't want him to get hurt in a wreck. Then he took my face in his hands and looked me in the eyes and said "I understand mommy." It was all I could do to not bust up laughing because I always ask him if he understands after I've had to tell him about things he can't do.

Funny kids. We love them and enjoy everything about them. Update: we are actually getting along very well in Monument Valley and Jackson has already started to make some friends.

Jackson's Funnies

Okay, so Jackson is becoming and is a hillarious kid. I got thinking about some things he does and says and decided I would post some of his more recent sayings and things he does.

"That's a bad word dad"
"Don't say that word"
"Peace out dude"
"Rockin' (as he holds up his pinky and pointer finger like horns) so funny!
"Just relax mom"
"Gosh mom/dad"
"Freakin' heck"
"I love you mom/dad/Berklee"
"I'm crying mom/dad"
"It's ok Berk."

Anyways, lots more sayings but those are the ones I can think of.
Some things he has started to do:

He climbs up on the stool and makes his own toast.
He has started riding his bike really well.
He watered my flowers for me.
He thinks he should wrestle Berklee (she is a good sport and usually smiles the whole time).

He does plenty more but I cannot remember them right now. I will get a pic up soon sorry I'm really not good at that.

New Beginnings!!!

Okay, so we are going to have some changes in our family situation soon. Now I know that makes it sound like we are adding another child but alas that is not the case. Colby has gotten a full-time teaching position in San Juan School District. Which means, he gets to start teaching his own students in his own classroom. He is very excited. Also, it means (hold your breath this is an announcement of a lifetime for me) I am now going to be a stay at home mom!!! Halleluja! I'm not sure there is anyone happier right now than our little family. We are so excited. I will be starting pre-school with Jackson in the fall. It will likely be at home since we will likely be in Monument Valley. Anyways, congratulations to my wonderful husband on all of his hard work. It is finally paying off for him and he has earned it. I love him and am so impressed with how much he has put into his past job and his schooling. Keep up the good work honey. I love you.

Begging

Ok, so this is actually from Thanksgiving time but I finally got it from my family's camera. I have to explain what he is doing. He is standing with his hand like that begging for his little cousin Lizzie. He thought he always needed to be right by her and loving her. Now we see that same look and hand holding out for his little sister. Overall, he is very cute with her. The biggest problem is he thinks he can carry her and stuff like that on his own. She loves him though. It's way funny because she will smile and laugh almost always when he talks to her. Way cute!

Cleaning

Well, I almost have the house completely cleaned and sanitized. I love it. As a reward we all went out to eat and went miniature golfing in monticello. I have never been and we thought Jackson might like it. He is sure he won and had a blast. I think he ended up doing each hole two or three times. I also found great thread at the mercantile there. I know stupid thing to be excited about but if you know how crappy the thread is at the stores in Blanding you would understand. Anyways, I didn't get pictures of Jackson miniature golfing. I'm kind of bummed but we'll work on the pictures thing.

Husband Tag

1. Where did you meet your husband? I met him at our freshman orientation at SUU. He was the tall dark and handsome guy I wanted to get to know. At the end of the day, we were waiting to meet with advisors and we were a couple of the last people waiting so we started to talk. It was all over after that.

2. How long did you date before you got married? We dated for a year and were engaged for 3 months.

3. How long have you been maried? I can't remember j/k. We've been married for 3 1/2 yrs.

4.What does he do that surprises you? He listens to my stupid books on tape while we drive, he plays the piano and sings for me, he wrestles and plays with our son, he works, goes to school, and still makes time for the kids, I could go on and on but you get the idea.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? Everything. I especially love his eyes, smile and his build, yup everything!

6.What is his best quality? He is always willing to help other people.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Yes, Jules. In college he and his buddies referred to me as jewish, thank heavens he dropped that one since it could be offensive to people. LOL

8.What is his favorite food? He loves pizza. He also loves good navajo tacos with no veggies on it.

9.What is his favorite sport? Does he have to choose one? He loves all sports.

10. When and where did you first kiss? I think it was his dorm room. If that isn't right he'll be telling me so. He remembers those things better than I do. He can still remember what I was wearing the day we met.

11. What is you favorite thing to do as a couple? Not sure. Lots of things. We don't really get a whole lot of time as a couple anymore so anytime together is our favorite.

12. Do you have any children? Two beautiful kids. A 4 month old girl and an almost 3 yr. old boy.

13.Does he have any hidden talents? Don't tell anyone but he is good at writing poetry. Maybe one day I will post one of his poems on here. He's also pretty good at dancing.
14.How old is he? 23
15. Who said I love you first? I honestly can't remember. Ask him. It was in his truck up the canyon though.
16.What is his favorite music? Depends on his mood. Sometimes he loves country other times he likes to jam to some good air supply and other times he rocks it with ozzy and adcd.
17.what do you admire most about him? I admire how patient and loving he is with me and how adorable he is with our kids.
18. What is his favorite color? I'm not positive but I would guess blue unless you're referring to sports teams colors in which case red for the red sox and buccaneers.
19. Will he read this? I'm not sure. I just started the blog so we'll see if he checks it out.
20. Who do you tag? Anyone that reads this and has a husband.

Janice Twitchell Photog

Ok, so I decided to tell you guys about mine and Colby's friend Janice. She has started photography and we love her work. You should go to her website. It is janicetwitchellphotography.blogspot.com It is great work. Love all of you who read this.

Lake Powell

Well, we went to lake powell on a houseboat with all of Colby's family. Thanks to Chad and Joni for doing this great trip. We had so much fun. Jackson loved chilling in the tube and floating in his lifejacket. I will do some pics in the next day or two. I'm really going to let all of you know about my blog and get it going. Berklee didn't really love the cold water and really probably didn't even realize what a beautiful place we were at. She did enjoy watching the waves. Colby and I just enjoyed being away from everything and not having to worry about the house, the yard, work or anything else.

Good Day

Jackson is getting better and we blessed Berklee today. Everything is well today.

Welcome!

Hi all,

I've started a blogspot. We'll see how it goes.